ARTL-MCP: All Roads to Literature

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server and CLI toolkit for comprehensive scientific literature retrieval and analysis using PMIDs, DOIs, PMCIDs, and keyword searches.

Requirements

• Python: 3.11 or later

• uv: Python package installer (install guide)

📖 New to artl-mcp? See PREREQUISITES.md for detailed setup instructions including Python/uv installation, MCP client setup, and more.

Three Ways to Use ARTL-MCP

1. CLI Only (FREE - No AI Required)

Use directly from command line with just Python + uv:

uvx --from artl-mcp artl-cli get-doi-metadata --doi "10.1038/nature12373"

• ✅ No installation, no API keys, no costs

• ✅ Direct access to literature databases

• ✅ Perfect for scripting and automation

2. MCP with AI Assistant (Recommended)

Use with any MCP-compatible AI assistant for natural language queries:

• Claude Desktop (most popular)

• Goose Desktop

• Zed Editor

• Continue (VS Code)

• Any MCP-compatible tool

Note: You can use ANY MCP client - not just Claude! See PREREQUISITES.md for setup guides.

3. Development (Optional)

For contributors working on artl-mcp itself. See DEVELOPERS.md.

Quick Start

MCP Server with AI Assistant

Example: Claude Desktop (works with any MCP client)

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "artl-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["artl-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Then ask Claude: "Search Europe PMC for papers about CRISPR"

Other MCP clients: Goose, Zed, Continue, etc. also work! See PREREQUISITES.md for setup guides for each client.

Standalone CLI

# Install and use CLI commands
uvx --from artl-mcp artl-cli get-doi-metadata --doi "10.1038/nature12373"
uvx --from artl-mcp artl-cli search-papers-by-keyword --query "CRISPR gene editing" --max-results 5

Core Features

🔍 Literature Search & Discovery

• Keyword-based paper search with advanced filtering

• Recent publication discovery

• PubMed search with multiple output formats

📄 Metadata & Content Retrieval

• DOI/PMID/PMCID metadata extraction

• Abstract retrieval from PubMed

• Full-text access via multiple sources:

  • PMC (PubMed Central) - MCP + CLI

  • Unpaywall - MCP + CLI

  • Europe PMC - MCP + CLI

  • BioC XML format - CLI only

• PDF text extraction and processing

🔗 Identifier Management

• Universal identifier conversion (DOI ↔ PMID ↔ PMCID)

• Support for multiple input formats (URLs, CURIEs, raw IDs)

• Comprehensive identifier validation

📊 Citation Networks

• Reference analysis (papers cited BY a given paper)

• Citation analysis (papers that CITE a given paper)

• Citation data from CrossRef (when citation tools are enabled)

• Related paper discovery through citation networks

💾 File Management

• MCP Mode: Returns data directly without file saving (optimal for AI assistants)

• CLI Mode: Full file saving with path reporting and content management

• Content size management - large content automatically handled appropriately

• Memory-efficient streaming for large files (PDFs, datasets)

• Cross-platform filename sanitization

• Multiple output formats (JSON, TXT, CSV, PDF) in CLI mode

• Configurable directories and temp file management in CLI mode

Available MCP Tools

When running as an MCP server, you get access to 6 core tools. Note: 33 additional tools are currently disabled pending testing and stabilization (see Issues #210, #212).

🔄 MCP vs CLI Mode Differences

MCP Mode (AI assistants): Returns data directly without file saving:

{
  "data": { /* tool-specific content */ },
  "mcp_mode": true,
  "note": "Data returned directly - use CLI for file saving"
}

CLI Mode (command line): Full file saving with path reporting:

{
  "data": { /* tool-specific content */ },
  "saved_to": "/path/to/saved/file.json"
}

Currently Active MCP Tools (6):

1. search_europepmc_papers - Search Europe PMC database for papers

2. get_europepmc_paper_by_id - Get full metadata from Europe PMC by ID

3. get_all_identifiers_from_europepmc - Universal ID translation via Europe PMC

4. get_europepmc_full_text - Retrieve full text from Europe PMC

5. get_europepmc_pdf_as_markdown - Convert Europe PMC PDFs to Markdown

6. get_pmc_supplemental_material - Get supplementary materials from PMC

Disabled/Unavailable MCP Tools (33 tools - see issues):

The following tools are implemented but currently disabled (commented out in main.py):

• ❌ Citation analysis tools (4 tools) - Issue #210

• ❌ BioC full text tool (1 tool) - Issue #213

• ❌ DOI metadata tools (3 tools) - Issue #212

• ❌ Identifier conversion tools (4 tools) - Issue #212

• ❌ PubMed abstract/text retrieval (5 tools) - Issue #212

• ❌ PDF extraction tools (3 tools) - Issue #212

• ❌ Search tools (2 tools) - Issue #212

• ❌ Other tools (11 tools) - Issue #212

Note: CLI has 23 active commands, many corresponding to these disabled MCP tools.

CLI Commands

The artl-cli command provides access to all functionality. When using uvx, specify the package name:

# Metadata retrieval
uvx --from artl-mcp artl-cli get-doi-metadata --doi "10.1038/nature12373"
uvx --from artl-mcp artl-cli get-abstract-from-pubmed-id --pmid "23851394"

# Literature search
uvx --from artl-mcp artl-cli search-papers-by-keyword --query "machine learning" --max-results 10
uvx --from artl-mcp artl-cli search-recent-papers --query "COVID-19" --years-back 2

# Full text (requires email for some sources)
uvx --from artl-mcp artl-cli get-full-text-from-doi --doi "10.1038/nature12373" --email "user@institution.edu"

# Identifier conversion
uvx --from artl-mcp artl-cli doi-to-pmid --doi "10.1038/nature12373"
uvx --from artl-mcp artl-cli get-all-identifiers-from-europepmc --identifier "PMC3737249"

Note: Citation analysis tools are currently unavailable in both MCP and CLI. See Issue #210 for updates.

Note for local development: If you have the package installed locally with uv sync, you can use uv run artl-cli directly without the --from flag.

Configuration

Email Requirements

Several APIs require institutional email addresses.

⚠️ Important: Replace example emails with your actual institutional email address.

export ARTL_EMAIL_ADDR="researcher@university.edu"  # Replace with your real email
# or create local/.env file with: ARTL_EMAIL_ADDR=researcher@university.edu

MCP Client Configuration: Different MCP clients support configuration injection. ARTL-MCP's enhanced configuration system provides multiple methods for email setup:

• Claude Desktop: Inherits system environment variables automatically

• Goose Desktop: Requires MCP extension configuration (see USERS.md)

• Other clients: May support client-specific configuration injection

See USERS.md for comprehensive configuration instructions.

File Output (CLI Mode Only)

Configure where files are saved when using CLI commands:

export ARTL_OUTPUT_DIR="~/Papers"           # Default: ~/Documents/artl-mcp
export ARTL_TEMP_DIR="/tmp/my-artl-temp"    # Default: system temp + artl-mcp
export ARTL_KEEP_TEMP_FILES=true            # Default: false

Note: MCP mode returns data directly without file saving.

Supported Identifier Formats

DOI: 10.1038/nature12373, doi:10.1038/nature12373, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12373

PMID: 23851394, PMID:23851394, pmid:23851394

PMCID: PMC3737249, 3737249, PMC:3737249

All tools automatically detect and normalize identifier formats.

Development Setup

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/contextualizer-ai/artl-mcp.git
cd artl-mcp
uv sync --group dev

# Run CLI commands during development
uv run artl-cli --help
uv run artl-cli get-doi-metadata --doi "10.1038/nature12373"
uv run artl-cli search-papers-by-keyword --query "CRISPR" --max-results 5

# Run the MCP server locally
uv run artl-mcp

# Run tests
make test                    # Fast development tests
make test-coverage          # Full test suite with coverage

# Code quality
make lint                   # Ruff linting
make format                 # Black formatting
make mypy                   # Type checking

Development vs. Production Usage:

• Developers (local repo): Use uv run artl-cli after uv sync

• End users (no local install): Use uvx --from artl-mcp artl-cli

Optional: Claude Code CLI for Makefile Demos

⚠️ Not Required: Claude Code CLI is ONLY needed for running make claude-demos-all tests. Normal users and MCP users don't need this.

The repository includes optional MCP integration tests via Makefile targets:

make claude-demos-all  # Run all MCP demos (requires Claude Code CLI)

Requirements for demos:

• Claude Code CLI: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

• Anthropic API key (pay-per-use, ~$1-2 for all demos based on current pricing – see Anthropic pricing)

See PREREQUISITES.md for setup instructions.

Documentation

• PREREQUISITES.md - Setup guide (Python, uv, MCP clients, email config)

• USERS.md - Comprehensive user guide with examples

• DEVELOPERS.md - Development setup and architecture

• CBORG.md - CBORG usage for LBL users (spending tracking)